Flame Mahogany Tea Chest/Tea Caddy with silver-plate canisters, c1820

This superb small flame mahogany tea chest features a silver-plate handle and escutcheon. Its green velvet-lined interior has three compartments for silver-plate canisters, two for tea and one for sugar. It is very special to find a tea chest with its original canisters as a complete entity. Many tea chests have lost their contents over the ages. These items are best called tea chests as they have removable canisters but are often called tea caddies.
Length 4.5 ins (11.5cm), width 7.25 ins (18.5cm), height 4.25 ins (10.75cm).
Weight 1442 grams.
In excellent condition. One of the canisters has an area of silver-plate loss which can be seen in the photographs, otherwise the box and canisters are in lovely order.
This item can be seen in the book, "Antique Boxes - Inside and Out", on page 124.